Dune: Awakening Blood and Ice, a new expansion for Funcom's survival MMO, launches on December 1 and will be free for all players on PC, PS5 and Xbox. Funcom paired the reveal with a roadmap that finally dates two long-requested features: an offline single-player mode in November and full cross-play in January 2027.

It is a clear signal that the survival MMO is shifting toward free content funded by cosmetics, just as a wave of new console players settles in.

Official Dune: Awakening screenshot of a player crossing the desert of Arrakis
Blood and Ice trades the desert heat of Arrakis for a frozen northern map. Image: Funcom

What is in Dune: Awakening Blood and Ice

According to the official announcement, the expansion adds the Polar Sink, a frozen survival map in the far north of Arrakis split into two biomes:

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  • Tundra: home to the lavish strongholds of the water shipper families, who do not welcome outsiders.
  • Ice cap: the families' most prized and heavily guarded territory. Breaking in is one of the expansion's main goals.

The survival loop flips on its head. Instead of avoiding the heat, you need to stay warm, which means upgrading gear built for the desert and crafting cold-weather equipment from resources found only in the Polar Sink. Ice harvested from the cap can be used to cool base equipment and speed up production. Funcom estimates around 35 hours of new progression, plus new vehicle modules, augments and specialization traits.

Official Dune: Awakening screenshot of a player base and vehicles
Ice from the Polar Sink can cool base equipment and speed up production in Dune: Awakening. Image: Funcom

Offline single-player, character copying and cross-play dates

The roadmap matters as much as the map. Funcom confirmed three dates:

  • November 2026: offline single-player, so you can play without an internet connection.
  • January 2027: character copying from multiplayer to single-player, and from single-player to private or self-hosted PC servers that allow copied characters.
  • January 2027: full cross-play across supported platforms.

Character copying means nobody has to restart to try the other mode, and cross-play should help console and PC friends finally share servers. Funcom has not said whether progress copied to single-player can be moved back to official servers, so treat it as a one-way trip until that is clarified.

Official Dune: Awakening screenshot of combat on Arrakis
Full cross-play for Dune: Awakening is scheduled for January 2027. Image: Funcom

Events and the new cosmetic store

The Scourge, the current event about a disease spreading across Arrakis, will be followed shortly after the expansion by Water Crisis, built around scarce water supplies. Events work in both single-player and multiplayer, give free rewards and get their own Events tab in the main menu when Blood and Ice goes live.

To pay for free updates, Funcom is opening a store for optional cosmetics such as outfits, vehicle variants and base customization. It starts with a rotating selection, including looks from the Dune films tied to the December theatrical release of Dune: Part Three, and the studio plans to eventually keep the full catalogue available at all times.

Blood and Ice does not change the entry price for newcomers. Dune: Awakening is listed at $49.99 on Steam, and the expansion itself costs nothing extra on any platform. The paid Filmic Archive DLC released earlier remains optional, and Funcom says it plans to keep future content updates free while the store covers the cost of development.

Official Dune: Awakening screenshot of a character on Arrakis at sunset
Dune: Awakening's cosmetic store will rotate items, including looks from the films. Image: Funcom

Why it matters and what comes next

Dune: Awakening launched on PC in June 2025 and reached consoles in September 2026, a release we covered in our story on Dune: Awakening on consoles. Funcom says more than one million new players have joined since the console launch, and CEO Scott Junior promised major free updates throughout 2027 with new locations and mechanics.

For current players, Blood and Ice is a free reason to return; for newcomers, the offline mode lowers the barrier for anyone who wanted the Dune fantasy without the MMO pressure. If you want to compare it with the genre's other heavyweights first, see our list of the best survival crafting games on PC.